TURBULENT / XIAOVEN

thirty eight

authors notes: hai so first off sorry its been a month... oops

second off: THIS FIC IS NUMBER TWO IN THE XIAOVEN TAG???? WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!

ok now that that's over, some stuff i wanna talk about: girl the last of us show is So good ive never played the games but OHHH MY GODDDD. i dont know if its the fact that i am deeply attracted to pedro pascal or what but its crazy. also ive been crazy about ride the cyclone recently too???? gettin a bit silly recently!

also im sleepy so very few cws besides the usual. yknow what to expect its been nearly 40 chapters

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zhongli stares at xiao as he asks the questions. his brain runs a thousand miles an hour— what? what? 

what could he possibly want to know about their father? i mean, he was a piece of shit who shouldn't be remembered ever unless you were publicly shaming him but still he was their father. 

"don't worry." xiao reassures zhongli, "i know. you know, about the whole me… stabbing dad when i was a kid. i just have many questions." 

zhongli nods as he sits on the edge of the bed warily, observing every single movement of xiao's. he never wanted to tell xiao and even if he did, not after a moment so beautiful and special as getting proposed to. 

"are you sure?" zhongli asks cautiously, watching as xiao's fingers intertwine with venti's before he nods, reassuring him. 

xiao nods, "i'm sure. also, i feel like this conversation would be odd without hu tao so would you get her?" 

zhongli nods as he leaves the room and quietly shuts the door closed, leaving the two lovers in silence. 

"... i don't know why i asked about him." xiao says, "it's so dumb. maybe i should just tell him that i changed my mind or something." 

"do you really want that xiao?" venti glances over to the other who is nervously rocking back and forth on the bed ever so slightly, "or are you just nervous?" 

"nervous." xiao nods, answering as soon as the word had left venti's mouth, "and i feel kind of sick but i don't know if it's because i'm so nervous that it's affecting me physically or if, maybe, you know, i'll have another seizure which makes sense i haven't had one in a while but also none of my family have ever seen me have a seizure so that's another issue-"

"xiao." 

xiao looks at venti who watches how xiao tries his best to seem calm and collected but with the increasing pace of his rocking and the fingers that are near his mouth as he bites his fingernails shows that he is anything but calm and collected. 

"breathe for me." venti says before demonstrating for xiao, "can you do that for me, darling?" 

xiao nods before breathing in slowly and exhaling as venti combs through xiao's hair with his fingers. venti watches as he grips onto a loose thread of the blanket on their bed, calming himself down. 

xiao never did get overwhelmed very easily– venti knows that and even if he did, xiao was good at not showing he was. but to have the mention of everything his father did affect xiao like this, venti knew it was horrible. the most venti knew was small details here and there. venti knew from xiao's point of view that he was a kind, sweet man who was very understanding of xiao and for some reason xiao had killed the one man who was apparently so understanding of him. 

the door creaked open and zhongli stood behind it with hu tao following closely by. 

"so… you wanted to know like, the whole thing with dad?" hu tao says as she skips gleefully to a chair by the desk in xiao's room.